VCP6

A couple weeks ago I sat and passed the VCAP 6.5 Datacenter Design Exam. It was a good but tough exam. The VCAP 6.5 Design exam is a bit different from past VCAP Design Exams – there are no Visio type questions. Just multiple choice and “drag and drop” questions.

Jumbo Frames must be configured correctly end-to-end. This means on the vSwitch, vmkernel interfaces, physical switches, and endpoints. The vmkping command can be used to test a vmkernel interface for proper configuration of Jumbo Frames.

IT Architect: Foundation in the Art of Infrastructure Design is well written and an easy read. I read it cover to cover over a couple nights. I found myself marking multiple pages to refer back to. It is packed with a great deal of useful information for both the seasoned Architect and those who are looking to gain a bit more insight on the process for creating a high quality design. The book focuses on enterprise class, but the design process can easily be (and should be) applied to any size or type of datacenter design.

I just finished updating my home lab to 6.0U1b yesterday and today VMware has released 6.0 Update 2 for both vCenter and ESXi. Figured I would write up how easy it is to update the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) to Update 2 using the Appliance Management UI.